More flu: Sandy Christenson of St Louis Park may be the sickest person in Minnesota today, WCCO reports. She’s hospitalized with the flu. “Every morning I get there, and she is there, it is another day with her, so that is all I can ask right now,” her dad says. She apparently got a flu shot in the fall.

Today, Macy’s, Inc. announced the closing of its Saint Paul store along with multiple other locations across the country. Saint Paul’s Department of Planning and Economic Development (PED) staff have already begun to consider reuses for the site, which will be one of four downtown light rail stops when the Green Line opens in spring of 2014. In 2001, the city provided a $6.3 million forgivable loan to assist with asbestos abatement and some store improvements. Repayment terms for the loan expired on December 31, 2012.

“In 2001, downtown Saint Paul was in the beginning stages of recovery after several years of decline, and losing a big-box store like Macy’s could have potentially jeopardized that recovery. But today the face of downtown has changed, and we stand on a firm foundation that includes the building of hundreds of new housing units, a Lund’s grocery store, the Lowertown regional ballpark, a revitalized Union Depot, and an almost completed Central Corridor light rail line,” said Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman. “Downtown Saint Paul’s momentum and rebirth continues. And much like when the ballpark or light rail was in the infant stages of great redevelopment ideas, the Macy’s site provides the city with a tremendous opportunity to bring another part of our city into the 21st century.”

The closing of Macy’s brings with it great redevelopment potential, according to Matt Kramer, President and CEO of the Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce. “We understand that large national retailers have been trending for years to the suburban mall model. And while we hate to see Macy’s leave Saint Paul, we are very optimistic about the quick redevelopment of this site given its prime real estate location.”

PED Director Cecile Bedor noted, “We are confident that the development community will recognize the potential of this site, and we’re looking forward to working with Macy’s to ensure a quick and efficient sale and reuse.”

The bottom line is clear: People don’t want to shop in downtown Saint Paul. Macy’s is the last department store in the city that once supported more than a half dozen of them. But any casual observer in downtown knew that as soon as Macy’s could legally close the store — it had agreed to keep it open in exchange for some city cash years ago — it would.

It was already a struggling location when the light-rail construction started several years ago, but having most roads torn up around Macy’s didn’t help.

And it’s an ugly building with a huge footprint downtown as this image I shot a couple of years ago shows.

It’s unlikely another large retailer will take a shot at the location. It’ll have to be something else (Shot in the Dark’s Mitch Berg predicts it’ll be another state building).

She said she’d planned to have a nice retirement. Then her husband died.

4) THE RESCUERS

A nurse, a paramedic and a pilot died last night when their medical helicopter crashed and burst into flames near Mason City last night, a reminder of the people we take for granted who risk their lives in service of others on a daily basis. They were on their way to pick up a patient.

It happens more often than many people realize. It happened in Oklahoma yesterday afternoon. It happened in Illinois in December. It happened in Texas last week.

Health officials suggest that this could be a bad flu season for Minnesota, judging from the early onset of the season and the number of patients admitted to hospitals. One of the best measures to fight the spread of the flu is for people who feel sick to stay home. Today’s Question: Do you feel free to take sick days?

Talk of the Nation (1-2 p.m.) – An exit interview with NPR’s Mike Shuster. Over the years, diplomatic correspondent Shuster took us into the deliberations at the Security Council, to Berlin, at the Fall of the Wall, inside Iraq during the worst of the war, to Israel during conflicts with the Palestinians and Hezbollah. And through every step of the still-growing tensions with Iran.

All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) - A rebuilt New Jersey shore might not have the same beachfront homes or roller coasters of people’s vacation memories. Town officials want that nostalgia, but not its vulnerability to severe storms like the one that washed stores and amusement rides out to sea. NPR looks at post-Sandy plans for rebuilding the Jersey shore.

About the blogger

Bob Collins has been with Minnesota Public Radio since 1992, emigrating to Minnesota from Massachusetts where he was vice president of programming for Berkshire Broadcasting Company. Previously, he was an editor at the RKO Radio network in New York, and WHDH Radio in Boston. He is the founder of the MPR News’ website.

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Wouldn’t a spiritual person want to prevent harm and possible death to others? These nurses come into contact with elderly, pregnant, immune-suppressed people who could die from getting the flu. Their position is very selfish and hypocritical.

John O.

#2 Sidewalk expansion in Lowertown: Take a walk around downtown St. Paul and pay attention to the vehicles parked on the street. You will quickly notice a large percentage of vehicles parked throughout the day that are either sporting a handicap plate/permit or a permit from the City of St. Paul.

With a new ballpark coming to Lowertown, adding capacity for sidewalk dining in the area is going to do a whole lot more than removing a few parking spots on the street.

BJ

1) NURSES FIRED FOR REFUSING FLU SHOT

I think the bigger story is why this hospital was so late coming to the required flu shot game.

I’m pretty sure that all MN hospitals are requiring it.

Dimitri Drekonja

Mandatory flu vaccine (with enforcement via termination) has been increasing in the past few years, and in my view it’s entirely appropriate. Healthcare workers can be shedding virus for a day or 2 before symptoms become severe enough for them to recognize that they have influenza, and by that time they may have exposed many patients, some (cancer patients, transplant patients) whose immune-systems won’t be able to effectively cope with the virus. The religious exemption is completely made up for most people– all the major religions were established well before Edward Jenner introduced the first vaccine, so they didn’t even know about the practice to forbid it. The religious exemption was granted by a judge to Christian Scientists, whose religion was new enough to include anti-vaccine principles, and others have jumped on board, with the idea that if it’s against their religion, it must be against mine too.,

BJ

One thing my wife, the nurse, said, “we are seeing a lot of influenza B”. I asked her what that means, not good the shot covers a lot of A, but not many B.

jon

I choose not to get the flu shot. Seems unnecessary for myself as I do not get the flu (or if I do I don’t exhibit symptoms).

I say this knowing that vaccinations do work, and are unlikely to cause any issues worse then the illness they are set to prevent.

My grandfather died of an illness no longer present in the first world thanks to vaccinations. When we get to a point where we feel that the vaccinations are so effective that we feel we can wipe out the flu, I will get a vaccine. until then we are targeting specific strains here and there for a one year period at a time, I almost feel that this is setting us up for a influenza epidemic like that back in 1918. Just like antibacterial soap has only lead to a breed of bacteria that are resistant to antibacterials… we are working toward a flu virus that will work around our best efforts to stop it…

These are only my beliefs and understanding from the limited research and discussions with those in the medical field… I’d welcome any evidence to the contrary (or any evidence at all for anything, spouting out statements out of ignorance, while a main stay of the internet, doesn’t really help any one.)

BJ

jon – if you are between the ages of 20-45 and have a healthy lifestyle, and not in contact with those with lower immune systems, you shouldn’t need a flu shot. I have two small kids at home. I get a flu shot.

The problem is if you don’t know you have any underlying health issues. The 17 year old above, “Max died after four days in a hospital fighting the flu and a staph infection.”

The staph infection hurt him in a way either (the flu and staph infection) alone could not have.

Tyler

The frequency of medical helicopter crashes terrifies and fascinates me, and I wonder why it doesn’t get more publicity.

Cara

jon, you haven’t gotten the flu yet, not ‘you don’t get the flu’. It’s impossible to say whether you will ever get it or not.

At the hospital I used to work at people were allowed to not get the flu shot but we had to sign a declination form, stating that we understood the risks we posed to patients and employees.

Now that I don’t work there I can’t decide whether or not to get the shot. My college student daughter is terrified of needles (she faints,really) but has asthma. Every year I’m in a fuddle trying to persuade her to get it.

Bob Collins

I have a couple of friends down in AZ who fly medical evacuation helicopters. I think they both use night vision equipment but I know a lot of medivac operators do not supply such an obvious thing.

Also, they don’t tell the pilots — at least down there — was the trauma is that is requiring them to respond so that they don’t take chances they ought not be taking.

He also explained to me how “auto rotation” works when a helicopter loses its engine. It reinforced my vow NEVER to get in a helicopter.

Dimitri Drekonja

Cara- your daughter can get the live-attenuated influenza vaccine (assuming no immune-suppressive drugs), which is administered via nasal spray. That may be a work-around. My kids get this (I’m a physician, Infectious diseases)

As to the vaccine covering “a lot” of A and “not much” B– the current trivalent vaccine is 2 strains of A, one of B. So “a lot” is just one extra strain, or twice the coverage, depending if you’re an optimist or pessimist. A quadrivalent vaccine (2 A, 2 B) was approved in 2012, but will not be out for this season.

As to resistance– that’s an issue for the antiviral drugs, but not for the vaccines. The natural high mutation rate of influenza drives the re-assortment that allows the virus to get around the vaccine’s protection, not the use of the vaccine itself.

BJ

Thanks for the clarification Dimitri Drekonja – This was my translation of what my wife said in passing after her 12 hour shift sometime last week.

Cara

Thank you Dr.Drekonja! Now I’m off to find out whether or not her MD will do this.

Jeff

#1 – I’m torn. If someone gets the shot they still might get sick and come to work before they know it. If they don’t get the shot they still might not get the flu so they aren’t a risk to others. I think the medical industry agrees that getting the shot reduces your risk of getting the flu, so getting it is certainly a good thing for nurses to get, but should they get fired for it? Do they get fired if they don’t wash their hands between patients? At what point do you say that the risk to the patient is so great that a presumably qualified nurse is fired, which could then mean less care for all patients (at the patient load is distributed across the remaining nurses)? Doesn’t the decrease in care increase the risk to the patient?

bark

Downtown St. Paul will never be downtown Minneapolis. Attempts to duplicate an IDS tower across the river are obviously silly. So is duping First Avenue. What does that leave?

Well, the Lowertown artists zone is a start in the right direction. I think you can continue on this route — make something for young-ish people who have grown out of clubbing in Minneapolis 3 nights a week. Maybe an entrepreneur center. Maybe something like http://roboticsinnovation.com/ could find a home there. The problem may be with the government of St. Paul itself — the bureaucracy tends to resist any change other than decay.

OR, it could just be a great big retirement community. Is there a good location for an IHOP?

OR you could turn the whole Macy’s building into a giant Dunkin’ Donuts for Bob.

BenCh

This was posted on Reddit (from facebook) which I think is an interesting follow of religious enforcement of employee health care.

vjacobsen

Cara and Dr.Drekonja,

I have asthma, and no, FluMist is contraindicated for those with asthma. Not an option.

>>Children younger than 5 years of age with recurrent wheezing and persons of any age with asthma may be at increased risk of wheezing following FluMist administration. FluMist has not been studied in persons with severe asthma or active wheezing.

…which sounds unpleasant but not like a contraindication. Best option in any case is to ask your doctor.

Sue

Flu shots should not be mandatory. I do not get flu shots and the last time I did, I my arm hurt me for months.

Big Pharma is behind this drive for everybody to get flu shots. Do you know how much money they make for these forced immunizations? If something goes wrong with the vaccine what recourse do we have? What about those people who got the meningitis shots and died?